Pretty Little Secrets

Chapter 5

Chapter 5

As I sat next to Tristin in photography I felt the happiest i'd ever been. I liked to ask questions so I didn't have to talk too much and it worked. I asked him about his childhood, his family and friends. He was born in Orange County and has lived in California all his life. His family moved to Venice when he was 5. He was an only child, his parents are very successful but as a result are always busy and are never at home. He's been friends with Scott and Damion since 1st grade, however he sees him self as a 'third wheel' as they have a stronger friendship since they have sports in common. I noticed that he smiled when he talked about his childhood and his friends, but not when he spoke about his family. In fact, he looked rather sad.

It was 5 minutes before the end of the lesson and the teacher began to talk about homework. "I'm going to set you quite an interesting assignment. I would like you take a picture of 'freedom' in your own view. It can be edited or kept original it's up to you. You've got until next lesson." That was 2 days away. I looked across at Tristin and he seemed in deep thought, then he turned to me and said "I've got it. I know exactly what i'm going to do, but I need your help."

"Me?"

"Yes you!" He said with a cheeky grin. "Are you busy after school?"

"Well not but i'll have to check with my mum-"

"Great then it's settled." I couldn't help but laugh. He was so confident that I wanted to spend time with him, and I did I really did. I was exited.

~*~

I found my mum waiting for me in the drop off area and explained about the the photography assignment, she had not objections to me spending the afternoon with Tristin, but I think it was because she was happy i'd made a friend. I walked back and found Tristin leaning against his Cadillac, the corners of his mouth were slight turned up, his arms were folded and his eyes were looking directly in to mine. "You ready to have some fun, Miss England?" I nodded my head enthusiastically. He walked over to the passenger door and held it open for me like a real gentlemen. I was shy about getting in but I was also overly exited. As I sat down he closed the door behind me and walked around to the drivers side. His car smelt like coconuts and aftershave, he had an air freshener shaped like a palm tree hanging off his mirror and on the back two seats there were about 3 hoodies and 5 different beanie hats. "Sorry it's a bit of a mess." He said shyly, grinning apologetically.

"No no, it's not." I said trying my best to sound reassuring. As we pulled out of the parking space Tristin put the radio on and turned it up quite high.

"Here we go!" He said laughing, I laughed too.

~*~

As we drove around LA we talked, what our favourite bands were, our favourite TV shows, favourite books. Tristins favourite band was Coldplay, his favourite TV show was Friends, even though it was really old and his favourite books were The Hunger Games. He asked me a lot about England too.

"Is the weather really as bad as everyone says?"

"Yep worse, I can't believe you have sun all year round. I take it you've never had a snow day?" He laughed. " No, actually i've never seen snow before, like real snow."

"Oh my god no way!"

"Way!" He said sarcastically. As we drove past a sign that said 'Hollywood Hills' I couldn't help but feel disappointed.

"We're not going to Venice?"

"No, not just yet. But I promise i'll take you there sometime." He looked over at me and gave a cute smile, not cheeky as though he was messing around, but as in he really meant what he was saying. Did that mean there were more adventures to come?

~*~

We pulled up in a car park that was for tourists wanting to see the Hollywood sign, but we were the only ones there. Tristin got out so I did too. He went to the trunk of his car and got out a skateboard then looked up to the top of the hill. "Will you be able to hike in those boots?" I looked down at my feet then up again to the top of the hill. It was going to take us at least half an hour to walk up there. But I didn't want to disappoint him.

"Sure."

"Follow me then." He began walking up so I followed behind him clinging on to my camera. We walked in total silence all the way up the the hill, past to the Hollywood sign, right to the top. But it was a comfortable silence.

When we got to the top he sat down and crossed his legs, and looked over the city. It was surprisingly quiet up there and I assumed it wasn't the first time he'd come there. "Come here often?"

"When things get too much, I like to just be alone and look over at all the little people. In some ways it makes me feel powerful over them. Like i'm above them and I no longer have to deal with their crap." He really emphasized the word crap. "Some times, I hate people. Like, the whole human race." I sat down with him and listened to every word. "Why do people have to be so horrible to each other? It takes one nasty comment to completely fuck someone up." It was the first time i'd ever heard him swear and it was the first time i'd ever seen him unhappy.

"Do people do that to you a lot? Make you feel... fucked up." He looked at me and smiled.

"You don't swear often, do you Kate?" It was the first time i'd heard him call me Kate."You have to be careful who you open up to. Only a few actually care, the rest are just curious. But with you Kate, I feel as though i've know you forever." I smiled, but then I noticed his eyes were watering. "You know the other day, my dad called me a fag. He told me that because I don't play sports i'm not a real man, and what was wrong with me? And you know what I did? I just took it. I didn't even stand up for my self, because it made me think. Is that how everyone see's me? As some sad excuse for a guy?" By now he was really crying so I held his hand.

"You know, it's our differences that make us individuals, and our imperfections that make us beautiful. When I first saw you, I didn't think you looked like a sad excuse for a guy." I thought you looked beautiful, I said in my head not having the courage to say it aloud. By now he'd stopped crying and whipped the tears from his eyes. "Do you not see the way other girls look at you? I've only been here two days and I noticed it straight away. They see it too. And can you not tell by the way Destiny acts around you? She clearly has a crush on you." Then I stopped talking. Crap, was I not meant to have said that? Did Tristin know she had feeling for him? Well if he didn't he must be pretty stupid. And blind.

He stood up and brushed the sand of his jeans and coughed, clearly trying to regain his manly-ness. He pulled me up and smiled. "Yeah well, Destiny is Destiny. She's not the most subtle of people." Oh good he did know. "I'm sorry I didn't mean for this to turn in to a pitty party. Right, we only have one shot at this, so it's got to be perfect, unless you fancy walking back up this hill again? So what I want you to do is get on my skateboard and-"

"Waite me?"

"Yeah! Don't worry I don't expect you to skate or anything, just sit. And if you get the courage, stand up when you can." I looked at the steep drop and felt my stomach clench. There was no way I was going to be able to do that. But then I looked up in to Tristin's eyes and they looked so hopeful and it was clear he was depending on me.

"Okay, i'll do it." He grinned and then grabbed his skateboard.

"Ok now you get on it, and i'll push you ok?" I nervously sat down on it and tried not to look at the drop ahead. "You ready? 3, 2, 1." And then he pushed me, the wind went through my hair and I felt, amazing. I got about a quarter of the way down and stood up, with arms out on either side. "I got it!" I heard him yell from the top. I sat back down again and within a minute it was over, I was at the bottom.

I then saw Tristin running down the hill with arms out on either side like something out of Titanic. Perfect. I grabbed my camera and took a picture of him, but keeping his face out of focus and the Hollywood Sign in focus. When he got to the bottom he hugged me, spinning me round. "That was awesome!" He yelled. We were both so out of breath but so a live at the same time. We looked deep into each others eyes, getting closer together but before we could get any closer he spoke. "So England, what do you like to eat?"

"I like pancakes."

"Pancakes huh? Lets go."